Birding in the Texas Panhandle

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Well, it’s a few days past the mid-point of summer and birding has been a bit slow around here. There are still lots of birds around, but it is either too early or too late for migration so I haven’t seen anything different for several weeks. Also, mating season is winding down, so the males…

I took the kayak out onto Meredith yesterday morning and paddled around for a couple of hours. It was cool and there was a little fog and no wind. Here’s a few photos from the lake. The little Clark’s Grebes chicks are nearly grown. I took these photos before the fog had lifted near Martin…

Once again I have neglected this blog for way too long, and as usual I have no real excuse. I have been doing a lot of birding this summer, nearly daily in fact, with time off on the weekends to go to work. I just haven’t taken a lot of photos. All of what I’m…

I came across some Red-headed Woodpeckers at Cedar Canyon the other day. There was at least 3 and perhaps as many as 5, it was hard to tell as they were flitting around a lot and I was unable to ever see them all at once. This one was kind enough to stop and pose…

Getting up at 0600 and getting the kayak out of the garage and on the water is probably not every one’s idea a fun time and to be honest, there is a part of me that tries to talk the rest of me into staying in bed. I ignored that part and this is my…

I think that this is a juvenile male Painted Bunting but it might be a female. I’m never sure about these birds. Edit: After talking with a couple of birders with much more experience than me, we’ve decided that it is a female.

My son and I went kayaking and birding earlier this week on Lake Meredith. Here’s what we saw. 9 Western Grebes; one of them might have been a Western/Clark’s Hybrid. I’m never 100% sure when it comes to bird IDs. American White Pelicans and Ring-billed Gulls chillin’ on the mud flats at the southwest end…

In spite of only working a couple of days a week, I seem to be having trouble getting around to posting photos. I go birding nearly daily,see lots of birds, and take lots of photos nut processing them and posting them a bit of a pain in the ass and I don’t seem to be…

I visited Palo Duro Lake on Thursday in the northern part of the panhandle and then on Friday I drove south an hour or so to the central part of the panhandle to Palo Duro Canyon. I saw several birds that I hadn’t yet seen this year, but unfortunately, I had not charged my camera…

I haven’t been to Palo Duro Lake in a couple of months, so I decided to drive up there Wednesday morning. Turns out it was a good idea-no lifers but several FOS birds to add to this years lists. Most exciting for me was a Baltimore Oriole, the first I’ve seen in the panhandle. Also…

Came across this yellow shafted Northern Flicker pair at Lake Meredith’s McBride Canyon while hiking one morning. At first I was a bit confused as to what was going on-they both seemed to be males, but after a bit of research I discovered that the yellow shafted sub-species of Northern Flickers can be further divided…